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[faint thumping]

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♪ ominous music ♪

♪♪♪

Don't tense up. Don't use so much body.

Don't over-hit. Don't spin. Don't chop.

[reporter] Nick Bollettieri is a professional coach.

Some would say a professional tyrant.

A scold, a hard task master.

[Nick] You know what you had to find out?

You had to have a winner.

[reporter] It's the capitalist version

of the communist East European approach to athletic training.

Take promising young players, lock them together

away from family and friends to concentrate on one thing,

producing champions.

[Nick] We had to have a big winner.

Not a state champion, but a winner.

What'd I tell you about pulling down?

What'd I tell you about putting your head down?

What did I tell you, about the head?

- Do what? - To keep it up?

Did you keep it up that time? How come?

[Nick] And then when you had the winner,

you gained respect.

♪♪♪

People say, "Hey, well, look at that kid.

15 years old. Look.

Look at that guy.

There gotta be something right to his method."

♪♪♪

And then, when the results came,

more people began to come.

[applause]

♪♪♪

♪ Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" playing ♪

♪♪♪

♪ The sweet, sweet memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ You can't beat the memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ Take one fresh and tender kiss ♪

♪♪♪

♪ Add one stolen night of bliss ♪

♪ You can't beat the memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ One girl, one boy ♪

♪ Some grief, some joy ♪

♪ Memories are made of this ♪

♪ You can't beat the memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ Don't forget a small moon beam ♪

♪ You can't beat the memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ Fold in lightly with a dream ♪

♪ You can't beat the memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ Your lips and mine ♪

♪ Two sips of wine ♪

♪ Memories are made of this ♪

♪ You can't beat the memories you gave-a me ♪

♪ Then add the wedding bells ♪

♪ One house where lovers dwell ♪

♪ Three little kids ♪

♪ For the flavor ♪

♪ Stir carefully through the days ♪

♪ See how the flavor stays ♪

♪ These are the dreams ♪

♪ You'll savor ♪

♪ Memories are made of this ♪

♪♪♪

[seagulls squawking]

[Jason] Nick, I have to be honest.

When you start to tell a story,

sometimes you go into your performance voice.

Okay, let--let's go. You ready?

- [Jason] Yes. - Let me tell you--

[Jason] No, that's your performance voice.

I want the real voice.

Let me tell you a heck of a story, okay?

[Jason] Tell it to me. Just--just tell me the story.

All right, Jason, I'm gonna tell you what happened here.

[Jason] Nick, you're killing me.

All right.

[Jason] Don't introduce it.

Many years ago at the Colony...

♪ playful music ♪

[Nick] When 60 Minutes was on,

and Morley Safer was interviewing

a sports psychiatrist,

and the sports psychiatrist said, "This man is crazy.

This man takes kids out of their house

and makes them live with him.

He doesn't feed 'em.

He beats them up.

And he makes them wash his cars."

That I did.

So my mother began cursing at the Italian,

and we're all Italian.

She said, "Jimmy." That's my father.

"Why are they talking about our son that way?"

My daddy was very calm.

He said, "Mary,

if you ain't nobody, ain't nobody gonna talk about you.

And no matter what they say, you say 'thank you.'"

♪ foreboding music ♪

[Jason] But you were a controversial coach.

Had to be.

Had to be, because I came from no background.

They said I couldn't do it.

I did things nobody even thought of doing.

[Nick] I broke the rules of taking kids

away from their parents,

and brought them to an academy.

First one in the world.

Now, if I didn't break those rules,

I don't believe that tennis would be where it is today.

Look at who came through the academy.

Agassi, Seles, Courier,

Krickstein, Arias, Mary Pierce.

Come on, let's keep going, baby.

My Serena, my Venus,

Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, Tommy Haas.

Well, what're you talking about?

I think if you take all of the students

that attend the academy,

I think there's about 180 Grand Slam titles.

♪ stirring music ♪

Hey, babe, but what do I have to tell you about?

Just look at the records.

I don't know half of what most coaches know

in the world about pronation,

turning your hips and shoulders,

the dynamics of the stroke,

centrifugal force. I don't know one--

Shit, I don't know anything about that.

All I know is I wanted to be a winner and with winners.

♪♪♪

[Jason] Can we talk about Andre, though?

'Cause he's your most famous student and he refused

to be in the movie.

Jason, I wanna say something.

Why don't we let that be? That doesn't bother me.

It don't--let the record of what I did do the talking.

[Jason] But him not being in it--

he's a big part of this movie.

He's in--he's in it.

Let me tell you why he's in it.

He had other excellent coaches, including Brad Gilbert

and--and other people.

But people still remember Agassi/Bollettieri.

They'll always remember that.

But let me say this,

no matter what Andre says,

that relationship that we had is something special,

and you cannot erase that, no matter what happened.

♪♪♪

[Jason] Why do you think he can't get over this?

I have no idea.

[thunder rumbles]

[Nick] Good shot. Very nice. Recover.

Excellent. Good.

Turn. Oh, right there.

[Jason] What did Nick say about this movie?

Uh...

They gonna cement his legacy.

They--he will be remembered for a long, long, long time.

♪ jazz music ♪

[Jason] In my head, I see Nick calling you,

saying, "Julio, make sure I look good."

Yes, yes, say--now, well, Nick told me this,

"Remember, Julio, I come first."

This is the time that you put a little under-slice on a ball,

a lot of top on the ball. Good.

[Julio] I met him back in 1973.

It was 2:00 in the morning. The phone rings.

It was Nick Bollettieri.

Nick wanted to have somebody come that summer,

and he says to me,

"Son, don't ask me at what time you start working

because I will fire you.

Don't ask me at what time you stop working

because I will fire you.

Don't ask me how much I'm gonna pay you

because I will fire you."

I say, "Yes, sir, no problem."

Come on, boys. Time to get it rolling out.

6:30 in the morning, so let's get it moving.

[Julio] I was making $50 a week

working from 6:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night.

No days off. Seven days a week.

If you ask for the day off, you're fired.

That was my introduction to Mr. Bollettieri in those days.

I'm able to motivate people to listen to me.

[Tom] How do you motivate?

[Nick] Tom, I really think that I was given something

by God.

No, no, and there he goes again.

Get up there, young lady. Get up there.

Everybody look at me and sit up.

Nick has the biggest ego in the world.

Well, the philosophy of the, uh,

Nick Bollettieri Academy Program is to develop a child

both in tennis and as a person.

And people with big egos, they wanna be remembered

in life for something.

So when I do that to you and I break your--

your concentration on the part, I'm doing it for a reason.

To see whether or not you can take it

and come back the next point to win.

Again? All right.

[Julio] And he felt that if you bring

a lot of kids together, and you work 'em very hard,

someone will come out with a name.

Somebody's gonna become good at it.

We are gonna expand this program.

[Nick] Our new academy opens up in September,

and as a result of that, we start a new phase

of a teaching program. Our system of mass teaching

at our own academy.

♪ ominous music ♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[Martin] It was a furnace.

And a furnace can mold you and it can make you stronger,

or it can break you.

♪♪♪

And Nick was really looking for guys

who were gonna go all in.

[Martin] Andre came in my second year, in '84.

He was a different kind of kid.

He was fearless.

He was pretty angry.

He was going through an adolescent stage

where he was pretty rebellious.

But he was just such a natural.

[Nick] Andre Agassi, one of our young students

that's beginning to develop,

making a mark, and just includes his 23rd point

on the circuit.

Has great ground strokes in both the forehand

and backhand side.

However, we would like to develop a weapon.

♪♪♪

[Martin] In some ways it was like

a minimum security prison,

because you're on a scholarship,

you're gonna do a job.

Uh, you're gonna bus dishes, you're gonna clean bathrooms,

you're gonna maintain the courts,

you're gonna string rackets.

As Andre rebelled,

it brought him into contact with Nick more.

Andre doesn't wanna clean the bathrooms, or whatever.

"Okay, go see Nick. You gotta go see Nick."

Andre doesn't wanna dig ditches today.

"Okay, you're gonna go see Nick."

Nick is like, "He doesn't wanna play by the rules,

but there's something really special about him."

I should've kicked him out. He was a rebel.

Everybody knew it, including his father.

Including Jim Courier, and all the other guys said,

"Why are you putting up with this?"

I saw something in the guy,

and I kept him.

Andre and Nick

were probably the two biggest influences in my career.

And they were both so good to me.

I'm gonna be real careful that, uh, I give you a real picture

of what you're looking for, but I don't wanna come out negative

toward either one of them, even though there was really good

and really bad involved.

I would say that Nick cared about his players.

He wanted them to be great.

But I think he wanted to be great with them.

And I think that's why they all did well.

He wanted part of that, and he got part of that.

Most famous coach ever.

♪ calm rock music ♪

And the dark side is Nick had to do a lot of things

to get to where he got.

To get to where he wanted to go.

[Fritz] One of my responsibilities was

getting Andre through the academy

and getting him on into pro tennis.

But from the minute you saw Andre the first time,

he was just flat out different.

He hit the ball different than anybody I'd ever seen

hit the ball before.

And you knew immediately that he was special.

Would he reach his potential?

There was always a question about that.

And we had such a good group of boys.

Jim Courier was, in my opinion,

one of the most solid guys we had.

I call him Rock. That's his nickname.

He was much more solid than Andre in some ways.

But it was tough 'cause they had to compete

against each other for time with Nick.

[Jim] If you wanna draw the contrast to Andre,

who was a resentful one, who didn't wanna be there,

and I wanted to be there,

the one who got away with more,

uh, the one who was more gifted with the tennis ball,

all of those storylines are real.

[Jim] But I'm not conflicted.

I didn't get sent to Bollettieri's Academy.

I begged to go when given the opportunity.

♪ ominous music ♪

I came in January,

so kind of in the middle of the school year.

Then got kind of thrust into this room,

and Andre was there with a couple of other guys

from Las Vegas in one side of the room.

So you had this Las Vegas contingent.

And I'm the redheaded kid over there.

And I was definitely made to be an outsider,

even though I was one of the best tennis players,

certainly for my age.

And Andre and his coterie of Las Vegas kids

were very good at pissing me off.

[chuckles] Extremely good at pissing me off.

And I was already coming in there,

trying to get to Andre's level.

Andre was ahead of me in the junior rankings,

and I was trying to get up there.

And you're a 14, 15-year-old boy

going through hormones, and you're at a--

a place where we're all craving Nick's approval.

And Nick was my father figure at that point.

And he was the guy that you-- you wanted to be on his court,

which was an exclusive thing.

And so we're all fighting for that attention,

so it was, um--it was intense.

We would get home from school. We would rush.

We'd put on shorts, socks, and shoes.

No shirt. You don't need a shirt.

It's Bollettieri's Academy.

You take your two rackets,

a couple of wristbands, and a towel,

and you walk out your door, and that was it.

And you brought your temper with you,

because in the back courts,

everyone was screaming and cursing, and throwing rackets.

And, after a while, I just succumbed to it,

and said, "This feels pretty good."

Because there's nothing that brings out rage

more than being in a competitive environment.

Jimmy was a workaholic.

Jimmy knew that he was not as gifted as Andre,

you know, natural gift,

but he knew that if you--

I work 10 hours a day,

I will become as good as Andre.

[Nick] And, brother, they duked it out.

It was like a war every day.

And the ideal thing was to get on the stadium court with me.

And that's what made them so good,

is to go out and find a way

to compete against the best of the world.

[Jason] But how does it feel to have all these kids

fighting for your affection, for your love?

I don't know about that.

[stammers]

I--I--I've never thought about being loved.

What I think about, "Did I help you in life?

Did I give you a direction?"

You know, sometimes a person may not love you,

but if you've made an impact on their life,

that's success too.

[reporter] Andre has a lucrative contract

with a shoe company.

Plus, he has earned more than $57,000

so far this year on the tour.

Nike came to me with a contract and said

if you turn pro, you know, I mean, we'd take care of you.

And from then on, I just started doing well.

[Martin] There was a time, you know, when I was 16,

when I was right there with those guys.

Um, when I was getting good results in the pros,

when I got to the semifinals of the U.S. Open Juniors.

Beat a couple of guys who were in the top hundred.

I was on Nick's court a lot more.

♪ electronic music ♪

But then again, right around 16,

you know, Jim and Andre, you know, began to separate.

Jim won the Orange Bowl, 16 and under.

Andre had that unbelievable run

the summer of his 17th year.

And my parents didn't allow me to go all in.

They didn't allow me to turn pro when I was 16.

So those guys kind of pulled away from me at that time.

♪♪♪

[Martin] But there was no doubt in anyone's mind

that Andre was gonna be the first one to win a slam.

♪ dashing classical music ♪

♪♪♪

[commentator] The prized tennis championship of France,

one of the four major Grand Slam titles.

Thus far, Paris has featured a surprising parade

of triumph for U.S. tennis youth,

led by the 19-year-old shooting star, Andre Agassi.

Will he be the first American man

to win in Paris in 34 years?

It's the midpoint of the Tennis Explosion in Paris.

It was a seminal moment in-- in the academy's arc.

♪ stirring music ♪

[Jim] It was 1989,

and Andre was a much higher-ranked player

than I was.

[commentator] Well, any fan of the underdog

has to identify with Courier.

He's battled in the shadow of Agassi

for not months but years, and here's his moment

in trying to upset Agassi at Roland Garros.

[Jim] But I was a company man.

And representing with pride the Bollettieri Academy,

wearing the Bollettieri sweatshirts and T-shirts

everywhere I went, and feeling a sense of pride

that I was on the Yankees of tennis.

[Fritz] We had Jim and Andre playing.

You would think this would be the best day

of the academy ever.

But I can feel the tension from everywhere.

Because Nick was sitting in Andre's box.

♪♪♪

[Jim] When you go onto a tennis court

as a professional tennis player,

you know where the player boxes are,

where the coaches and-- and family and friends sit,

because you're looking for your team.

And--and it's pretty hard at-- at court one at Roland Garros

that players' box is right behind the players' chairs.

I mean, it would be as if Nick would've been

no more than 10 feet from me.

You could feel his presence.

♪♪♪

When Andre would win points,

Nick would be cheering and clapping and yelling,

and quiet when I would win points.

So you, you just know immediately

that Nick doesn't want me to win this match.

He wants Andre to win this match.

And it pissed me off to no end.

[cheers and applause]

I thought I was on his team, you know?

I thought--at that stage I thought I was part of--

of team Bollettieri.

But he had chosen another son over me.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Game, to Jim Courier.

He leads two games to love.

[Jim] And there was fuel there.

There was anger there.

There was a rage there,

because of what Nick was doing.

[commentator] This is tough. You come over to Paris

to play a guy you grew up with

in the tennis academy in Bradenton,

a guy you've outshone all the way as a kid,

and now Courier with the upper hand.

♪♪♪

[analyst] Oh, Agassi, you can just see the way he's acting.

He just... can't seem to figure anything to do.

And there's another ace, the seventh for Courier.

And this crowd that came to cheer Agassi in the warm up,

they were chanting, uh, in his favor,

obviously a very popular player all over the world,

and Courier, an unknown,

they're just sitting silently stunned.

♪♪♪

[Julio] No question about it that Nick favored Andre.

But I believe that gave Jimmy

more ammunition to become better.

So sometimes instead of taking that in a negative way,

I think Jimmy took it in a positive way, okay?

"Nick, I'm gonna show you now

that you might favor Andre over me in this match,

but I'm gonna show you how good I can be."

And he might be have-- betray or hurt or whatever,

but I think that's one of the best things

that happened to Jimmy.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Oh, he is getting everything, Courier.

- [spectators gasp] - [yells]

[commentator] And listen to him.

he is a point away

from the round of 16 and a date with Andrei Chesnokov.

♪♪♪

- Yeah! - [commentator] Oh, my gosh.

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] Gentleman Jim Courier

has upset Andre Agassi.

This is the biggest upset of the 1989 French Open.

And he stands in glory

and a glow on court one,

Roland Garros.

♪♪♪

[interviewer] How deep did this feeling

of playing second fiddle

to Andre Agassi for the last few years--

how deep did that run into you?

Well, it--it's a tough thing to deal with,

but it's something that you have to be mature about,

and--and, uh, you know,

Nick's gonna stay with Andre because Andre is,

you know, he's the number one idol in the world right now

as far as tennis goes, and-- and Jim Courier, you know,

today's the first day that people ever heard of me.

So, um--you know, you just have to accept it

and, uh, go on.

[Jim] For me, our relationship had been severed.

And I was gone.

♪♪♪

Maybe underneath, Jason, somebody was saying to me,

"Go with the guy that's gonna be the best."

I don't know. Maybe that's why.

That's why, maybe, I sat in Andre's box.

[Jason] Well, what about afterwards?

Do you remember when Jim left?

No, but he was hurt. He was hurt terribly.

[Jason] You don't remember Jim leaving?

No. No.

You see, everybody watching this, Jason,

They got to understand Nick, baby.

They got to understand me, okay?

I'm not jiving you by saying I don't remem--

I just moved on.

[Jason] Well, what happens when,

in your relentless desire to win,

you end up hurting people?

I have no comment. I just do it.

If I hurt you, maybe I'm sorry.

I don't know.

[Nick] I don't dwell into these things.

I really don't.

If you look at Nick's history,

Nick does not look back. I just go forward.

If you ask me right now to give you the names

of my eight wives, I couldn't do it.

You think I'm kidding?

I wanted to come across loud and clear.

I did not think about things.

I did not think of the ramifications,

whether negative or positive or whatever--or neutral.

That's me. Can I explain that?

No, I can't explain that.

[Jason] But my job is to make meaning.

I gotta make meaning out of this stuff.

Maybe for the first time in your career,

you're up against somebody

that is tough to make meaning out of.

Okay? Th--that happens.

Now, if you're good,

you find a way to make this successful.

Now it's up to you.

How you take a character like me,

do it a little different,

and make it a success, which I'm sure you will,

'cause if I didn't have confidence in you, baby,

I wouldn't be doing it.

♪ foreboding music ♪

♪♪♪

[Jason] You seem a little bit nervous.

- [Kathleen] Yeah, I am. - [Jason] Why?

Because, I mean, you know, it's talking about the past,

and a very...

A time that was very, um,

defining, and a time when I was growing up,

and a time when I was vulnerable,

a time when I was trying to achieve a lot.

So that's just a very emotionally-charged subject

right there.

♪ calm upbeat music ♪

I mean, I think it's true. Sons and daughters,

at the time, were the tennis players he was focused on.

It--it's tough to have more than one student

that you really believe in. I mean, that's not possible.

So, in a way, you always have the haves and the have-nots.

Kathleen we're very proud of.

We received a phone call yesterday from France,

telling us that Kathleen Horvath,

at 14 years old,

will play in the main draw of the French,

and yes, the Italian Open also.

What an honor to play in the Italian Open, folks.

[Kathleen] I was the youngest ever to play the U.S. Open,

and--and still am. I still have that record.

It was at 14 and five days.

♪♪♪

And it became sort of the launching ground

for him to get to the next level

in terms of his recognition.

What does it take to be a champion?

Desire, motivation,

mobility, and wanting to win.

Come on, come on.

You know, here's this coach who makes you feel

like you can fly on the tennis court,

who makes you feel like you can do anything.

But there's also this personal connection

with somebody who wants to take on a role

of being a parent to you,

and telling you that, um, they love you,

like a daughter.

[reporter] His very top students

live at home with him in luxury,

instead of the cramped dormitory.

It's another motive to win.

Winning seems to be the driving force

behind the whole operation.

I mean, a regular coach wouldn't do that.

And that's why I felt like I was his daughter.

I felt like we will have this bond

that will be there forever.

But I think N--Nick's focus changed.

The world of professional women's tennis is tough,

cruel, occasionally humiliating,

but always unforgiving.

[reporter] But the first year for Carling Bassett

was anything but that.

John Bassett has carefully orchestrated

his daughter's career.

I want her to be with the right people and have a super life.

People would say all the time,

"Oh, you're just this little rich kid.

You don't have any pressure."

And, if you wanna float your own boat and say that,

that's fine, but the reality is--is I like the pressure.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪

[Kathleen] I was 14 and she was 11.

Um, and she always looked up to me.

I had these homemade dresses and I would give them to her.

And, so she thought that was great.

And, so she was just an adorable little kid.

She would not be able to hold her own with me.

But, you know, she was like a little sister.

When my dad would leave,

I didn't get the attention Kathleen got.

[Carling] And the only way I could get

a little more attention was to get to her level.

And, looking at it from her standpoint,

that probably pissed her off,

because I did it so quickly.

[commentator] Carling burst forth

on international television in the finals

of the WTA Championships last April.

[commentator] Well, Martina Navratilova couldn't do it.

Andrea Jaeger couldn't, Tracy Austin couldn't.

No one could take a set from Chris Evert Lloyd,

but Carling Bassett has just done it.

Suddenly little Carling Bassett

had become a tennis force.

[Carling] I think that once he saw the talent,

then he started putting up 3/4 of his energy into me.

And then I could tell there was a little friction

with Kathleen, big time, there.

I mean, she couldn't be any more physically fit.

She was a good height. She had good strokes.

But just had to practice a gazillion hours

to maintain it.

[Kathleen] Then the second U.S. Open was '80.

It wasn't as wonderful of a build up

from the previous year.

Maybe it wasn't as good as quickly

as Nick wanted it to be.

I think that Carling Bassett could be

one of the best in the world in, uh, 24 to 30 months.

[reporter] Carling Bassett sprinted ahead

of her coach's schedule, and she wound up at the age of 16,

Rookie of the Year, ranked among the world's top 20.

When you are the worker, a lot of the times,

it's--you feel it so much more personally.

[Nick] Since Carling's turned pro, you know,

she thinks she's got the world now.

Doesn't practice anymore or anything.

[laughs]

We have a movie star and a tennis player here now.

♪♪♪

[Kathleen] Growing up, I was criticized

for being too sensitive,

because it was easy for me to cry,

it was easy for me to get hurt.

So, you know--so I think I was very vulnerable, for sure.

But I don't have any qualms about...

worrying about what Nick thinks about me anymore,

because I think he made that really clear

when he kicked me out of his academy.

♪ solemn music ♪

♪♪♪

[Kathleen] You don't go from "everything is great,

you're gonna be number one in the world,

I love you, you're a daughter to me,"

to "Bam, it's finished.

Go home, get out of here."

♪♪♪

I was at a tournament with my son a few years ago,

and I've came this close to talking to Nick

about--I wanted it to sort of get off my chest,

like, "Hey," you know, "asshole,

I--I need to tell you something.

Do you realize how much that hurt

when you just threw me out? Do you remember that?

Like, what were you thinking?"

But then, I--I didn't, because I realized

he probably doesn't remember it that way.

Or he probably doesn't remember at all.

So it's something that's just sort of always been dangling.

You know, something that's always just been unsaid.

♪♪♪

Over the years I saw that

that's happened to more people,

so I think it was easier then

to kind of, um, accept that,

because I was not the only person

by any stretch of the imagination

that felt betrayed and hurt and dropped.

So I think part of knowing that was also kind of closure,

like, that he has a pattern for doing this.

He just does.

♪♪♪

[Nick] Kathleen was a fierce competitor.

Fierce.

She did things most young girls

will never do in their life.

[Jason] But she was one of the kids that was kicked out

of the academy.

No, don't remember. Gone, it's history.

I remember that... [stammers]

...as clear as yesterday. I remember that vividly.

If she had been winning,

that would never have happened.

And she just didn't pan out to what he thought.

♪ rousing classical music ♪

[Carling] Nick loves the-- the build up.

And then when it gets to where it's no longer a build up,

or it crashes, then he just moves on.

Nick could just dispense of you like that.

♪♪♪

Mind you, I never wanted to leave.

It was more of my dad's, like, ego thing.

My dad wanted Nick full time,

and Nick said, "No, I can't do that, John."

I mean, because Nick was just exploding at that time.

And then my dad said, "Well,

then she's going somewhere else."

I wasn't part of tennis anymore

when I wasn't with Nick.

You know, it's just I was always--

if I wouldn't--wasn't doing well with one coach,

my dad at the time would say, "Come on, Carling,

you need to--this one's gonna do better for you."

[stammers] In reality, I mean, I just got worse.

♪♪♪

If I hadn't have been taken away from Nick,

and I hadn't have fallen into that eating disorder,

I really believe I would've been top three in the world.

These were all my kids,

and I tried to treat them as all my kids, okay?

So, when you treat-- try to treat everybody,

Jason, the same, you screw up. You can't do it.

You know,

Jason, you keep asking me why.

But I can't give you the answer.

See, you're asking me to do things

that either I just react,

whether it's right or wrong, I don't know.

[Jason] What if it's wrong?

What if there are things that are wrong?

Hey, in life, baby, if you don't do wrong,

you'll never reach the top of the mountain.

♪ upbeat '90s music ♪

♪♪♪

Hi, I'm Nick Bollettieri

and I'm with my most prominent student,

and my friend, Andre Agassi.

And what we've done in this tape

is put together all of the things we know.

Oh, yeah, we don't know it all, but what we do know

we put into a video that you're really gonna enjoy.

And you're gonna view it all the time.

It has great music, outrageous visuals,

with also some good knowledge.

We're gonna get you to play better

and more inspiring tennis.

- And we're gonna attack. - Attack.

All right, let--let-- let's stop there

and go in about two minutes my life.

♪ funk music ♪

[Nick] I got into tennis by accident.

I grew up not knowing anything about tennis.

Zero. Zero.

But I needed to make money to pay for gas

and to pay for my son and his mother.

And my uncle said, "Why don't you teach tennis?

You played some in college."

I knew nothing about teaching.

People used to say, "Hold the racket this way.

Shake hands. Form a V with your finger and thumb.

♪♪♪

Take it back this way. One, two, three.

Stop, don't move. Don't jump."

I said, "Heck, I can do this."

So, I did it.

And I began teaching on two tennis courts

with iron mesh nets.

My pro shop was a Pepsi Cola machine with an umbrella.

And the entrance was a big rock wall made of shells.

♪♪♪

But listen to this.

We had to get additional courts,

and my uncle ran the garbage business for the town.

The water commissioner was Frank Zappetti.

Together they ran the city.

So, I said, "Unc, we're getting crowded."

"Sonny, don't worry about it. We'll take care of it."

They called me "Sonny."

So my uncle and the water commissioner said,

"Let's have a big picnic."

Free food.

The whole town came.

My uncle and the water commissioner said, "Now."

I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

Mayor Diefenbach now is gonna take

the first shovel of our next six courts with lights."

I gave him the shovel.

The mayor knew nothing about it.

He crapped in his pants.

He looked over at my uncle and the water commissioner,

and they said, "Dig."

That was it.

[Jason] And did you ever think about it?

No, I got the courts. What the hell I--[stammers]

Why should I think about it?

Part of this story is, any time you're an Italian,

you make connections.

[Jason] And what happened to your uncle?

Well, he died later on, um, tragic accident.

He was collecting garbage,

and the back of the garbage bin

fell down and cut his neck off. Yeah.

Tonight we profile Nick Bollettieri,

president of a world-renowned tennis academy in Bradenton.

There are the big ones. There's Jimmy Arias' big years.

And Carling Bassett's. There they are.

Carling, Arias, Arias, Arias, and then go all the way down.

And then we ran out of space,

so we made a new wall for Andre.

[reporter] Andre is Andre Agassi,

one of the top players in the world today.

He's one of Bollettieri's greatest accomplishments,

and like a son to him.

[Jim] Andre was a marketing marvel.

And Nick knew that he's gonna get more TV time,

more exposed in newspapers because he was out with Andre

than he was with some other players

who may have been as good at the time,

but weren't as dynamic to-- to the marketplace.

♪ slow jazz music ♪

[cheers and applause]

[Fritz] Andre filled the seats up.

Andre could get TV ratings,

which nobody else really could,

no matter how good they were.

Andre did it. He did it all.

♪♪♪

[Fritz] And people were envious of him,

because he made more money than they did.

But he was getting so much attention

without winning any of the big tournaments.

Yeah, well, I love bad press, good press.

At least they're talking, right?

[Fritz] But in the end,

it's the strongest coach-student bond

I've ever seen.

♪♪♪

[Andre] I'd next like to say something about a guy

who's been a part of my life for about five years now,

who's not only developed me as a player,

but also as a person.

People tend, when they hear his name,

to have a little animosity or whatever,

because of, um, maybe how much he does for his students,

and how much he does for tennis itself.

But I think the people that feel that way

are really the people that don't know him too well.

He would give you the shirt off his back if you need him,

and that's my-- not only my coach,

but my good friend, Nick Bollettieri.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ominous music ♪

♪♪♪

[Nick] If Andre stopped today or had an injury,

I would not think of taking another boy his age,

because the excitement that's been between Andre and myself

and the Agassi family couldn't be duplicated,

and I wouldn't wanna spoil the years that we've,

uh, shared together.

[Andre] I don't need a lot of "good friends,"

I just need somebody that I know is gonna always be there.

♪♪♪

I was never home.

Never home.

One of my wives said, "Nick,

it's me or the rascal."

And she was referring to Andre Agassi.

My laundry was in the washing machine.

Put it in a big bag. I left.

[Nick] Gave her the house,

the cars,

the boat, the other house.

I made a choice. It's Andre.

It's not the way it's supposed to be,

but if I had stayed home,

I couldn't have made it anyway.

[Jason] And was that fair to the wives?

Well, let me say this.

I didn't even attempt

to stop and say, "Is this fair?"

I wanted to be different. I wanted to be successful.

And I just moved on.

[reporter] Bollettieri's accomplished a great deal,

but has one last secret dream.

[Nick] I want a champion.

I would like to sit in the box seats

and watch one of my students win the U.S. Open,

the French, Wimbledon, and be the best in the world.

♪ upbeat music ♪

[commentator] Each year, only eight times

a man can play well-enough to make a Grand Slam final.

Andre Agassi at 20 has earned his first.

He'll play Andres Gomez on Sunday.

Let's get the reaction of our semifinal winner today.

He's with Bud Collins.

[Bud] What does this mean to you,

to be in your first major final?

Well, [chuckles] I don't know.

I think the fact that, uh, this is my first one says it all.

[Bud] Did you practice today or yesterday?

Or the day before?

[Bud] The day before you played.

- No, I had two days off. - [Bud] Two days off.

That's right. Did you practice any time

between your quarter final and your semifinal?

I sure didn't, no.

♪ Suuns' "2020" playing ♪

♪♪♪

[commentator] Mm.

[man] Out.

[commentator] And Gomez jumps into a break situation again.

I'd like to ask Andre Agassi what it takes for him

to get his heart into it.

[commentator] On the line.

Agassi disagrees again.

Agassi asking the crowd to quiet.

He wants to be heard.

[Fritz] Every time there was a bad result,

was it a coaching error?

Was it Andre not being as professional as he could be?

What was really the problem?

[interviewer] Were you really ready?

Now, you hadn't practiced yesterday or today.

Would you rethink your training plans?

Uh, it got me this far. I'm not gonna complain.

All right, Andre, we'll see you soon.

Good luck.

It's the quality of the practice

that you have for that individual.

And a lot of people think if you don't have

a great deal of quantity, you know, you're cheating yourself.

[Nick] But that change will come from Andre.

♪ Won't you come and take it away? ♪

♪♪♪

[commentator] He missed it.

Oh, that can hurt. He had it.

Andre's complicated. He's not easy, you know.

Is he ever gonna get it together?

[commentator] The Agassi camp, obviously concerned.

♪♪♪

[commentator] 30 all.

[Fritz] Then, you know, people telling Nick,

"You went with the wrong guy."

There was doubt from everybody.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Our 1990 U.S. Open Champion, Pete Sampras.

[cheers and applause]

Courier is solid. Wh--why are you with Andre?

It was very difficult, wasn't it?

Yeah, when you can hit a serve 120 on the lines,

I mean, there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

[laughter]

[Fritz] But every time we saw somebody,

Nick would say, "Don't give up on my boy.

My boy's gonna make it."

♪ Won't you come and take it away? ♪

[commentator] There will be an American

winning in Paris today.

Will it be Andre Agassi or Jim Courier?

Whoever wins, it'll be that first ever

precious major prize, a Grand Slam Championship.

♪♪♪

That's just huge hitting from Agassi.

[grunting]

♪♪♪

[commentator] Here's Agassi really dominating

the exchanges at the moment.

Courier having to do a lot of scampering.

♪♪♪

Tough match. Tough match.

[commentator] And here comes rain.

[thunder rumbles]

[commentator] Jim, I don't think minds.

I know, Jose Higueras, his coach, doesn't.

[commentator] And Bruno Rebeuh has halted play.

[Fritz] Andre, he's up and it starts raining.

And we go in the locker room.

And I was throwing quarters with Andre.

And Nick's advice to him was

just keep doing what you're doing.

And then Nick went out to give an interview.

I'd like to see him end it as quick as he can

if that's at all possible, you know.

There's a long way to go yet. Courier is a fighter.

Uh, he's not gonna give you the match.

He won't give you anything, and I think

that's why Courier's, uh, becoming such a good player.

All right, thank you, Nick. And back to you, Dick.

♪♪♪

[Jim] I wasn't aware at the time, you know,

what Andre was doing with Nick or not doing with Nick

during the rain delay. I was so focused on

just trying to dig out of a hole.

I was able to sit with my coach

and we made a tactical change.

I changed my return of serve position,

which allowed me to get to neutral in these rallies.

It wasn't a chess move I was using a lot in that tournament.

So it was a new trick that my coach put into my head.

♪♪♪

[commentator] At the beginning of this match,

Agassi was dictating play. Now it's Courier

way inside the baseline.

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] Courier's a different player now.

♪♪♪

Since the rain delay, 28 points for Courier,

15 for Agassi.

Jim Courier serving for the French Open Championship.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Oh, what a way to win it.

What a way to win it for Jim Courier.

The 20-year-old becomes a Grand Slam Champion.

Terrific contest.

♪♪♪

[Jim] I wanted to prove it to Nick

that he'd made the wrong choice.

[cheers and applause]

♪♪♪

Hello, I'd just like to thank Jose Higueras.

I wouldn't be standing here without you.

Thanks, Jose.

[cheers and applause]

Do you think I would be here

if I got emotional and sick and worried and nervous

about everything that's been said about me?

No way.

That's when one of the big problems started.

It appeared before the two rain delays

that you were gonna take a two set lead.

Did the rain hurt you?

Um, yeah, I guess you could say that.

Uh, you know, considering how it turned out.

Um, I didn't feel like it did, I just came out

and he adjusted a little bit in his game plan

and started throwing a-- a few more loopers in there,

and I didn't adjust very quickly to that.

[Fritz] A lot of people felt like Nick didn't give Andre

a great coaching during that match.

And it freaked Andre out,

and it freaked the people around Andre out,

that Nick went out to do an interview.

Without me being in front out there,

how do you think the camps became full?

It was through these people.

♪ tense orchestral music ♪

[Nick] Because the payment that I charged

most of my top players were scholarships, baby.

Yes, I didn't make millions off my students,

but they filled the camp.

They filled the camp.

I didn't pay attention to what people said.

If I did that I wouldn't be where I am.

'Cause I would've wasted time

trying to prove who Nick Bollettieri is.

I'm not gonna do that.

Not then, and not now.

[commentator] After losing to Andres Gomez

in the 1990 French Open final,

losing to Pete Sampras in the '90 U.S. Open final,

and losing to Jim Courier in the '91 French Open final,

Agassi said, "The pessimistic side of me

wonders if I'll ever win one."

♪ Spiritualized's "Broken Heart" playing ♪

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] So the great returner triumphs

over the great server.

Another golden moment from Wimbledon.

♪♪♪

[interviewer] Losing six times to Andre,

this--it must be getting what, frustrating?

[Boris] But, I mean, you have seen the match.

What the hell can I do?

When it is my fate, he's playing two classes better

than against anybody, probably.

♪♪♪

[both grunting]

♪ stirring music ♪

♪♪♪

[interviewer] You've never won a Grand Slam

and yet you're in the finals

to win your first at Wimbledon.

How exciting is that?

This isn't another Grand Slam final to me.

This is Wimbledon. It--it--it's separate,

and it's even, um, especially special.

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

♪♪♪

[Nick] The foundation

of playing the lonely sport of tennis,

it's a one-on-one, baby.

It ain't easy.

Lot of the audience is for you,

against you.

It's tough to survive.

A lot of people say, "Gee, look how good they are.

Look how he pitches. Look at this."

But you know what?

That's what people misunderstand,

is how powerful the mental part of life is.

People think differently and react differently.

So if you don't know the history of the person,

the background of the family, the financial background,

divorces, whatever it may be,

very difficult to reach them

in whatever they're trying to achieve.

And remember the game today

is not only hitting a ball,

but the mental approach.

[commentator] Five-four in the final set.

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] And it's with these close moments

in a match as important as this,

that the mind inevitably wanders back

to the two previous meetings you've had

against the opponent Agassi,

knowing that he's lost twice,

Ivanisevic that he's won twice.

[announcer] Quiet, please.

[commentator] ...To produce this first championship point

[commentator's voice echoes]

[commentator] Game to Andre Agassi.

[cheers and applause]

Three sets to two.

six-seven, six-four, six-four...

To see Andre

drop to his knees and do this,

and wave to us,

that was something that I do remember.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Total shock and disbelief.

22-year-old Andre Agassi in tears

has won Wimbledon.

[Nick] It's a coach's dream to see a student win a big one.

♪♪♪

[commentator] And for Nick Bollettieri,

there on the left, what a moment for him.

He's known Agassi since 13.

And [chuckles], you deserve to be able to cry

on a day like this.

♪♪♪

[Nick] I believe the time with me,

they were ten years

that can never be repeated. They really can't.

And Andre Agassi

was a special boy to me.

[commentator] The hours and the effort.

And that's the thank you.

But underneath, the team was beginning to fold.

♪ ominous orchestral music ♪

[Fritz] See, there's a lot of ways to look at money.

You make a lot of money, you give me money.

Right? That's one way to look at it.

You become famous,

my camps get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Because you're famous,

you look at me as you're giving me money.

Did Nick become famous because of Andre?

Yeah, I think he became the most famous coach ever.

He was already famous, but way more famous with Andre.

So did that make him contracts?

Did that, uh, get IMG interested?

Ho--how much money Nick made from Andre, I don't know.

[Julio] When he came to us, he got everything.

We never went in to ask his father to pay us any money.

Nothing.

But I think that people around him,

that felt that, yes, his name was enough

to continue building the academy.

But--that's nice, but, you know,

you need money to run the place.

You need to feed the kids, you need to pay taxes,

you need to pay the employees.

[Julio] And Nick was a little hurt, to be honest with you,

because Nick put so many time

and so many effort on building Andre,

Andre should've shared with us some of the wealth that he did.

You say, "Here, Julio, here's a million dollars

to give the opportunity of all the kids,

like you guys did for me."

So we feel Andre should've done that.

But he never-- didn't happen that way.

[Fritz] I think Andre felt like he was pulling Nick,

and--where at the beginning Nick had pulled him.

♪ somber music ♪

And I think that people in Andre's camp

didn't want Nick there anymore.

I think he felt that.

Everybody thought he was just about the money.

[reporter] After Wimbledon, the tennis world was shocked

to find out that Nick Bollettieri

had terminated his coaching relationship

with Andre Agassi.

In July, Agassi was informed by letter

that Bollettieri was terminating

their professional relationship.

Did he anticipate that you were the one

that seemed to be on the verge of severing something,

so he did it first?

I think he saw me growing up,

and saw me making my own decisions,

and doing my own things, and being, you know,

being my own man, becoming a man,

that I think he realized his place in my life

wasn't quite as strong as it used to be.

It was tough.

It was very tough.

[reporter] Were there tears on either side?

- Oh, yeah. - Both sides?

Yep.

Yep.

And, um--

I can see you're hurt.

I can see in your eyes you are hurt.

[Jason] Can you describe the break?

The break was bad.

- [Jason] Tell me about it. - I took the letter.

It was--it was Federal Expressed to me,

because it was the time maybe of the Unabomber,

and, you know, nobody wanted Andre opening stuff.

[Jason] And?

It was not pretty. It was not good.

Uh, probably the worst decision Nick ever made.

♪♪♪

[Jason] Why did you tell the--the newspaper

before Andre?

Why did you talk to the USA Today journalist

before Andre?

Don't even know.

You know, I just did it.

Mistake? Absolutely.

For the story to come out

before Andre received the letter was a blunder.

[Jason] Why did you put--why even talk to the journalist?

I don't know.

That's Nick.

I cannot answer some of these questions.

Nick just reacts.

That's what happened. That's what I did.

[Jason] And why didn't you tell him in person?

I should have.

I should've jumped in a plane, flown out there.

I probably would still be part of his--his life.

I really would.

That's what I should've done.

Even if it had been just,

"I'm gonna pull out of coaching for a while."

Even if it had been just that, it's still emotional for Andre,

because, you know, it's, uh-- it's, uh, how many years now?

[Fritz] And I don't know if Andre

can ever get over that or not.

♪♪♪

Nick's not over it, either. I guarantee you that.

[Jason] I'll tell you something else that Andre says.

"Nick said that he would never coach one of my rivals."

♪♪♪

I don't know that, but I can understand he--

he would say that.

- [Jason] Why? - That's Nicky.

He was good at that. I can see him stepping up

to Andre saying, "I'm never gonna coach somebody that

play with you."

[Jason] Did Nick wanna coach other, bigger superstars?

I'm sure.

Nick wants to coach the best he can coach all the time.

[Fritz] And, you know, soon after that

is when Nick started with Boris.

♪♪♪

He needed as much, uh, in those days,

uh, uh, a success story with a total different guy.

And I happened to be that guy.

♪ foreboding orchestral music ♪

You know, for me, Nick smiled always a bit too long,

and--and he was a bit too brown always.

[Boris] And the sunglasses were a bit too big.

And when you first see him,

you--you have to laugh a little bit about--

well, what is this?

[Boris] So for me, he was always very American.

And I was not convinced about his knowledge of tennis.

♪♪♪

But then I got to know Nick from a different angle.

And it wasn't so much in the tennis court.

We--we met for dinner. We started speaking.

[Boris] So, in the fall of '93,

I asked, "Can I--can I come?"

I wanna spend a week, two weeks,

and see what's your secret.

So, we started practice at 8:00, 9:00 in the morning,

which I'd never done before in my life.

The intensity of his practice sessions, um,

the number of players I could hit with.

If one was tired, there was another one.

Then, it wasn't about the form in the backhand,

it was, you know, about your--

your attitude, and your--your, you know, attacking style,

and your--your, you know, mentality.

And it was a battle for him. It wasn't just a match.

And that's for the first time, a light went on of, uh,

"Okay, that's the reason he's so successful."

Because it's, um-- he's really a life coach.

And he's using tennis as a communication vehicle.

♪♪♪

Nick Bollettieri never won a tennis match in his life.

But he can make you win.

♪ '90s dance music ♪

[commentator] In our feature match today,

Andre Agassi, of the USA, takes on Boris Becker,

who's struggling to make a comeback.

That's our feature match from the Lipton.

Boris Becker, of course, he's very eager and very keen.

He's got his coach, Nick Bollettieri,

who used to coach Andre Agassi.

He's in Becker's corner this week.

Becker has to rely on that big serve

and has perfect conditions for him out there today.

[Boris] My game is serve-and-volley.

And nobody could return my serve.

Sort of my--my signature. And if I would serve big,

I would beat you. Well, Andre returned my serve.

And it was almost a sign of disrespect.

"How dare you returning my serve?

I'm the number one player in the world.

You're supposed to lose." [chuckles]

"You're supposed to pack it in, not play against me."

♪♪♪

[Boris] I felt I was the biggest superstar in tennis.

And there comes this boy out of Vegas,

and takes away my light.

I mean, who could take him seriously?

Uh, with the funny-looking shorts and the bleached hair.

He looked like a rock and roll star,

not a tennis professional.

He had cool girlfriends, he had a cool lifestyle,

he was total different than me,

and on top of that he was a hell of a tennis player

who started beating me, so I didn't like that as well.

And so it was the ultimate challenge

of old superstar against the younger superstar.

[reporter] It happened earlier this week in Florida,

and the match wasn't going well for the bearded Becker.

[commentator] Becker's offering his racket...

[laughing] ...to a ball kid.

"Here, you try beating him. I can't."

[commentator] She says, "You think I can do it?"

She says, "Sure."

[laughs]

[reporter] The unignorable dynamic in this match

is that Nick Bollettieri coached you to beat

Boris Becker the last six times you've played.

Now you've done it seven times,

with Nick coaching Boris on how to beat you.

I mean, obviously, you wanted to prove

more than just one thing out there today.

Yeah, but I think more than anything, it kind of shows you

how much coaching is a part of it.

Nick never won the matches for me,

and I certainly didn't expect him to win Boris' match

for him today.

[Nick] He beat the tar out of Boris

at the Lipton tournament.

And when the interviewers, sports writers left,

they said, "Nick,

Andre said you were insignificant to his career."

I said, "Let me see.

Davis Cup.

Wimbledon winner. Multi-millionaire."

I wonder what would've happened if I was significant.

[Nick] But Boris said to me, "Our day will come."

And at Wimbledon, he asked me, for the first time,

"Nick,

how can I beat Andre?"

[exhales deeply] Wow.

I said, "Let me think about it."

I went home that night.

It was a difficult thing for me to do.

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] Well, I think I don't have to tell you

that the reception received by these two men

underlines the fact that they are

the two most charismatic characters

currently engaged on the men's tour.

♪ Spiritualized's "Good Times" playing ♪

[commentator] Agassi has beaten Becker incredibly

the last eight times that they have met.

What do you make of that?

[commentator] Well, the first time they met,

Boris said to him after the match,

"Please don't get any better."

Well, he hasn't returned the favor.

He's gotten quite a bit better.

He's the greatest returner perhaps

in the history of tennis.

And Becker's lost a little bit of something on his serve,

and a little bit on the movement,

so that's really cost him against Andre Agassi.

♪♪♪

And of course, the familiar face of Brooke Shields

and Nick Bollettieri, who was in almost that same seat

three years ago, but he then was the coach of Agassi.

Now he's the mentor of Boris Becker.

♪ Hey, babe, you know I feel it ♪

[commentator] And Agassi hasn't forgotten

the way things went down with Bollettieri.

[commentator] Nor has Nick.

♪ To help the whole thing flow ♪

♪♪♪

♪ Gonna slip right down here ♪

♪ And wait until the sunlight goes ♪

♪♪♪

♪ Hey, babe, you know I love you ♪

♪ Gonna let you know what it's all about ♪

♪♪♪

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] The first taste of the Agassi return.

I've said this before, but they need a radar gun

for return of serve.

It's just too good.

Oh, what a get by Agassi.

♪ For God's sake, babe, don't lose it ♪

[commentator] Aw. That's impossible.

♪ Hey, babe, you know I love you ♪

[Boris] And he just toyed with me.

I mean, I would just return a serve

and he always had the answers.

It was embarrassing for me.

And Nick was in my corner.

People thought he was hard as a rock.

He really wasn't.

Andre was very sensitive.

[Nick] I told Boris that you had to break

the mind of Andre Agassi to beat him.

He's not gonna beat him thumbs up

by hitting just the balls.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Oh, he's a surgeon.

[commentator] Everything working for Andre Agassi

right now.

[commentator] Agassi leads four games to two.

If he would've beaten me the second set,

I would have no way to come back, so I--

I had to change something quickly.

[Nick] So, I felt, how can I interrupt his flow?

How can I make him question

what this other guy is doing?

[announcer] Time.

♪ I think I feel it coming on now ♪

♪♪♪

[Boris] I looked at his box, and his beautiful wife

Brooke Shields was there.

And I started flirting with her.

The audience doesn't know that.

And I blew kisses to her, and I--I, you know,

was charming with her.

And once I knew that was ticking him off,

I would continue to do that in front of his face.

I mean, no man likes that,

let alone on Wimbledon's Centre Court, right?

I mean, who would dare to do that?

[chuckles] I did.

♪ I think I feel it ♪

♪ I think I feel it coming on ♪

♪♪♪

[Boris] And all of a sudden, I saw Andre being off.

Completely.

[commentator] Game, Becker.

[commentator] Boy, overpowering game by Becker.

[commentator] That's a positive sign for Becker.

Those last two games, he was getting blown off the court.

For the first time, Agassi's showing signs of the pressure

of being number one.

[Boris] From-- from one game to another,

he couldn't play anymore.

[commentator] Agassi didn't even go for that.

[commentator] It just seems that Agassi doesn't

quite have the life that he showed earlier,

and Becker certainly does.

And all of it's mettle, in my opinion.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Now, there's the old Becker, guys.

He picked just the right time to do it too.

It's a big point for him.

♪♪♪

[Nick] I had to do what I did.

♪♪♪

I had to show people that I could help other people win.

♪♪♪

[commentator] That is not very good technique there.

♪♪♪

[commentator] Sensational effort by Becker.

♪♪♪

Wins the first tie-breaker, seven points to one.

Six-one, here in the fourth.

♪♪♪

Five match points.

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] What started so brilliantly

for the number one seed Agassi

is sent crashing to this same turf

by Boris Becker.

[Boris] And I think that that was the proof

that Nick is not a-- a one guy,

Andre Agassi coach.

But he can also coach somebody who's total different.

And I think that that was the most important match,

uh, in our relationship.

But it was one of the most extraordinary matches

I played in my life, because tennis-wise,

I mean, Andre was better.

[Jason] Well, what did that match mean to you?

That--that match,

at that time,

showed Andre

that I had to continue my career.

[Jason] This is my version, in my head.

Andre's hurt. Andre lashes back.

And you were hurt.

But was some of that hurt...

- No. - [Jason] ...the reason why

you picked up one of Andre's rivals?

No, absolutely not.

There is no truth to that in my heart or in my mind.

[Jason] But there was pain.

And--and I think until we can talk about

the cost of doing great things,

this whole thing is gonna come off as fake.

Now, wait, wait, wait, let-- let's just wait one second.

Hold it up.

Nick has done a lot of things.

When I sat in the box of Andre Agassi at the French,

and Courier and Andre were my students, okay?

Big mistake.

When I wrote a letter to Andre,

instead of going out there when I left the team.

Hey, this is Nick.

I made some mistakes. I don't even call it a mistake.

I made it, those things, impromptu.

But hurting a young person

is not what I wanna be remembered for.

♪ Spiritualized's "Broken Heart" playing ♪

♪♪♪

[thunder rumbles, rain pattering]

♪♪♪

[Julio] I do believe that

if you wanna do something in life

you have to pay a price.

♪♪♪

[Jason] But, I mean, at what cost?

Whatever it takes. Whatever cost it takes.

What--whatever it costs.

Whether it's your relationship with your family,

or your time consuming there,

24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Whatever it takes, you want something.

♪♪♪

[Jason] There are things that are more important than,

you know, building tennis champions.

Well, that is true.

That--but that's them.

You got them and you got Nick Bollettieri.

♪♪♪

[Julio] But at the same time, Nick's friends told him,

"Look, what you guys doing is good.

"But if these kids make it,

you need to sign them to a contract with the academy."

Okay?

And Nick says, "No, Julio.

We not doing that.

Our job is to make them as good as they can be,

and let the lawyers deal with that.

That's their problem."

Sometimes in the last five or six years,

I ask myself, why didn't I tell Nick,

"No, Nick, forget about it. Never mind the lawyers.

We make 'em, let's sign the contract.

If Monica Seles, Maria, Andre, Jimmy, they make it,

then they should give us something.

At least give part of their wealth to the academy."

But we never did that.

♪ I'm too busy to be dreaming of you ♪

[Nick] I didn't think about making the money.

It was out there working with the kids, man.

See if you could do something different than anybody else.

♪♪♪

And I can remember my accountant Ralph Campbell,

"Nick, we're going bankrupt."

I said, "What're you talking about?

The place is full."

He said, "Nick, you give everybody a scholarship."

But you know what? I'd do it again.

♪ I've gotta drink you right off of my mind ♪

♪♪♪

♪ I've been told that this will heal given time ♪

[reporter] Tennis, like any other enterprise,

is an ever-flowing pipeline of new talent.

So to ensure its future hold on this business,

IMG, calling it research and development,

went out and bought the Nick Bollettieri

Tennis Academy.

According to the head of IMG's Tennis Division,

Bob Kain, it makes perfect corporate sense.

And this is our business, and we want Chris Everts

and Martina Navratilovas. We want stars for 25 years,

and people who are happy and who've enjoyed their career.

And we now have a part in helping that.

To own the foremost tennis academy in the world,

you don't have to be out there in the playground,

you own the playground.

[Julio] We learned over the years that the idea for IMG

was to build something with a name,

and, little by little, start phasing Nick out.

And I knew that, that Nick could do nothing for me.

Ah, you're gonna be famous.

You're gonna be famous.

[Jason] 35 years, you and Nick together.

Right.

♪♪♪

[Jason] And it's heartbreaking too?

Yeah. It is.

In a way it is heartbreaking, okay?

But at the same time, you know,

when you get a little older in life,

you need to realize that

not the great things or the good things

gonna be there forever.

♪♪♪

[Andre] Nick. This is my, uh--

Nick Bollettieri.

It's, uh, my coach's birthday today, so...

Get on out here.

[cheers and applause]

[commentator] So Nick Bollettieri is gonna make

his way down to get a little show of appreciation

from his man, Andre Agassi,

who has said wonderful things about his father,

as you heard, and about Nick Bollettieri in the past.

There's a story behind, uh, a lot of this.

The story is that when he lost

at the tournament in Washington,

and he was across the street in the park,

breaking his rackets.

I went across and I said, "What's wrong?"

And he said, "Nick, I don't have it.

I can't do it." And I said, "Look at my wrist.

Is there a watch on my wrist?" He said, "No."

And I pointed my finger at him, and I said,

"There's no clock on your career, my boy.

Don't you ever, ever, ever say you can't do it."

And he did it.

[Jason] Andre wrote a very emotional letter

that has a lot to do with the--the relationship

between you. Would you mind reading it?

Go ahead. I'll read it.

It's, uh--it starts there. It's a little bit long.

You can read it to the camera.

I can read it? All right.

- [Jason] Please. - "Nick,

It has never been my style to communicate my thoughts

and feelings by writing a letter.

I've always preferred to allow someone to see my eyes

when I open up a piece of my heart to them.

If I lie, in my eyes you would know.

If I speak truth and sincerity,

in my eyes you would be sure.

But since you have always chosen to communicate

with me by letter, maybe if I write to you,

you can read it over and over,

understand and see clearly who I am,

and the standards and values

I refuse to compromise in my life.

For me to try and recap our ten-plus years together

could never do them justice.

The memories, Nick,

I never want to forget.

When I think of all those years,

a smiles moves across my face.

With each passing day,

these memories become more sacred.

The breakup was hard on both of us.

You felt justified in how it was handled,

even though I felt lost and let down.

My reaction to it, while justified by me,

left you confused and disappointed, I'm sure.

Nevertheless, when I saw you in London,

my heart was crying out to the only father

I felt like I ever had.

And to the second father

I felt like I had lost.

I said to you, 'I miss you.

I want you to come to Vegas and play golf.

There's a lot you need to catch up on, you know.'

You smiled and looked at me with tears.

You put..."

[exhales deeply]

"...your hand on the back of my head

and gave me a big hug, like you had done so many times.

Just as if our hearts were the only thing that mattered.

I had to wipe my eyes as you walked away.

Then I received your letter, just like a father.

With one small effort, you gave me so much to believe in.

And with an even smaller effort,

you tore it away.

Your letter told me that I could have

a father-son relationship with you.

I would just have to be willing to pay for it.

So sad, so devastating.

I want to end this so bad by saying,

'If you ever need anything, please call me.'

But all that goes through your mind

is dollar signs.

I mean this with all my heart,

I want your friendship. On that level.

I love you, Andre."

[Jason] What would it mean to be closer to Andre again?

Well, it would mean a lot to me because he was my boy.

That hurt me because it hurt him.

And you see, people viewing this,

they're not gonna believe me that I don't remember this.

A--and really, I don't care.

I care enough that I am going to mend this.

No matter what it takes.

And I'm gonna say, Andre,

yeah, I'm slowing down a little bit.

But reviewing the times we had together,

it's important to me before my life ends

that I say to you

I'm truly sorry.

♪ rousing music ♪

[Nick] No, Cherokee. Up with the left hand.

♪♪♪

Perfect.

♪♪♪

Tennis is a simple game

that you practice and develop a habit.

And that's the reaction that you wanna do with the ball.

You don't think whether you can reach it,

you just react.

♪♪♪

It's like crossing the street

with a car coming a hundred miles an hour.

If you thought whether to go this way or that way,

you're gonna be hit.

But if you start thinking about techniques

when you are playing, you will not be a winner.

♪♪♪

Evie, I'm gonna stay with you

for the next two, three, four years

for you to make it. Remember that.

I don't do this for anybody.

You're a special girl. All right, dear?

♪♪♪

If you look at my career,

I didn't think about anything.

I just react.

I react because I've done this before over and over again.

If I disconnect

from what I've done all my life, I'm finished.

I go down the drain.

I can't do it.

But I can adjust and do a little better.

♪♪♪

Adjustment versus change are totally different.

♪♪♪

When people hear the word "change,"

their mind goes into convulsions.

But if you do a little bit here, like Boris said,

and a little bit here,

it comes out to be a change,

and the student doesn't realize.

That's the trick of being a teacher.

♪♪♪

[Jason] So what did you think this movie was gonna be

before these interviews?

I didn't think it was gonna be like this.

[Jason] What'd you think?

I thought it was gonna be "beep, bop, beep,"

and you look up some stuff.

But for Nick Bollettieri to sit

10, 12, 14 hours...

I've--I've never done this.

For me to sit in this chair

and talk to you...

[exhales] That's unbelievable.

'Cause I've never sat still this long.

But I tell you what's going through my mind.

It's given me the opportunity to know myself.

And I can truthfully say this.

That...

if I had thought,

I probably would've done half the things differently.

♪ Hot Chocolate's "Every 1's a Winner" playing ♪

♪♪♪

You know, you have these images of--of Nick in your mind,

you know, the big shades.

Always with the shirt off.

And then to think that he started the academy

when he was 50 years old, maybe late 40s.

It's amazing.

Yeah, I mean, now that we're talking about it,

I don't know how Nick did it for 40 years.

♪ Everyone's a winner, baby, that's the truth ♪

♪ Yes, the truth ♪

♪ Making love to you is such a thrill ♪

[Carling] Nick's always been part of my life.

Even when we had the academy, when I got older,

and we lost contact, you know, he'd shoot me a text.

"Listen, if anything ever happens over there,

you're always--the kids always have a home here."

Nick is like a second father to me.

♪♪♪

This is a story that Nick is successful.

But, you know, it's not all wonderful and beautiful,

where nobody gets hurt. I mean, people do get hurt.

♪ Making love to you is such a thrill ♪

♪ Everyone's a winner, baby, that's no lie ♪

♪ That's no lie ♪

[Jim] I don't remember if it was something that I said

that was an olive branch. I don't remember

if it was something he said. I'm not exactly sure.

I didn't need for there to be any animosity there.

I needed there to be, um, sort of peace, if you will.

And it was part of my maturing process

to understand and be grateful, rightfully grateful,

for what he gave me that, uh--

I told you before, I wouldn't be sitting here

if Nick hadn't pulled me out of Dade City, Florida.

Nick's decisions for me,

with the benefit of a--of a-- of a lens that's pulled back

from frame a little bit more, they make sense.

And I'm okay with him.

♪♪♪

A lot of people talk about tennis

who have no clue about it,

who don't understand the difference

between winning and losing.

The player is the star, you know, and you're the man.

And then, you should be.

But, uh, what we sometimes forget is, um, who's behind.

Who puts the light on at night, you know?

Who--who brings the food to the table?

Who--who carries the racket.

And--and yes, the coach in the background

was--was, you know, Nick Bollettieri.

♪ Everyone's a winner, baby, that's the truth ♪

♪ Yes, the truth ♪

It was great while we did it. I enjoyed it.

I got a little too into thinking

I was important during it, but in the end,

the game humbles you, so I couldn't hang as long as Julio,

but I hung for a while.

And what I was able to be a part of was--was tremendous.

♪♪♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Do it again ♪

I think what he did,

even though paying the price that he did,

it was worth for him, and he probably--

he's reborn again, he might do it all over again.

[Jason] [chuckles] Would you do it all over again?

Yes. I will do it. I will do it with him again.

I mean, you know, he see me, you know,

he calls me, "Julio, we're gonna go to, you know,

Kingdom Come and start a club up there."

I say, "Sure, Nick, let's go over there."

And we go.

♪♪♪

♪ calm instrumental rock music ♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪